ACER Aspire One 532h-2Dr Netbook Review
A decent offering from Acer, but battery life and features are beaten here…
Acer’s Aspire One range of netbooks has been a long-standing contender in the mini-laptop market. The Aspire One 532h-2Dr is a well-built portable let down in a couple of areas compared to the other netbooks here.
Performance is a limiting factor with all modern netbooks. All four machines in this group test use one of the latest Intel Atom processors and feature just 1o24MB of memory. Consequently, they delivered near-identical results, with just enough power to run simple educational software and comfortably surf the internet, but little more. Multi-tasking tends to grind things to a halt, so anyone looking for more power will need to consider upping their budget.
Features are also quite basic, as with all netbooks. Three USB ports can be found on all four machines here, as well as a memory card reader and VGA output. However, while the other machines in this group test have built-in Bluetooth support for connecting to Bluetooth-compatible external devices such as mobile phones, the Acer does not have this feature.
Children will need a light laptop and the Acer just manages to beat the others by being the thinnest and lightest machine in this group test, with a 33mm deep chassis that weighs 1.2kg, although sadly its battery life is the worst in the group. Its 346 minutes of power away from the mains is still respectable, but the MSI in this group offers nearly three hours more.
Strong usability
The Acer fares better when it comes to usability, with a flat keyboard that stretches the entire width of the chassis. Most of the keys are well sized, although the directional keys are crushed into the bottom right of the keyboard, as they are on the Dell, and as a result are very awkward to use. In contrast, the touchpad is a good size despite such a compact chassis. but the dedicated scrollbar on the pad’s right-hand side isn’t nearly sensitive enough and using it is a jerky experience.
The Acer’s resilient chassis proves tough enough for regular travel use, although we did notice a little bit of flex around the palmrest. The glossy, bright red lid is a refreshing departure from the sober black designs of the Asus and MSI in this group test, but still can’t match the flair of the artistic design on the lid of the Dell.
The 10.1-inch screen is the same size and resolution as the Asus’ display, but a Super-TFT coating has been used for more vibrant images. This display isn’t as sharp as the Dell’s, however, and both the Dell and MSI displays produce richer, deeper colours, so photos look less saturated.
The Aspire One 532h-20r is a well-built netbook with decent usability and no major faults, but it is outshone in this group test in a number of areas.
Details
- PROCESSOR INTEL 1.66GHZ ATOM N450
- MEMORY 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM
- HARD DRIVE 250GB (540ORPM)
- OPTICAL DRIVE NO
- SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE 10.1-INCH SUPER-TFT
- DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1024 X 600 (W SVGA)
- GRAPHICS CARD INTEL GMA 3150
- DIMENSIONS 259 X 179 X 33MM
- WEIGHT 1.2KG
- WIRELESS LAN 802.11N
- ETHERNET 10/100
- USB PORTS 3
- FIREWIRE NO
- OPERATING SYSTEM WINDOWS 7 STARTER
- STANDARD WARRANTY 1 YR C&R P&L
- PRICE £277
A decent offering from Acer, but battery life and features are beaten here…
Acer’s Aspire One range of netbooks has been a long-standing contender in the mini-laptop market. The Aspire One 532h-2Dr is a well-built portable let down in a couple of areas compared to the other netbooks here.
Performance is a limiting factor with all modern netbooks. All four machines in this group test use one of the latest Intel Atom processors and feature just 1o24MB of memory. Consequently, they delivered near-identical results, with just enough power to run simple educational software and comfortably surf the internet, but little more. Multi-tasking tends to grind things to a halt, so anyone looking for more power will need to consider upping their budget.
Features are also quite basic, as with all netbooks. Three USB ports can be found on all four machines here, as well as a memory card reader and VGA output. However, while the other machines in this group test have built-in Bluetooth support for connecting to Bluetooth-compatible external devices such as mobile phones, the Acer does not have this feature.
Children will need a light laptop and the Acer just manages to beat the others by being the thinnest and lightest machine in this group test, with a 33mm deep chassis that weighs 1.2kg, although sadly its battery life is the worst in the group. Its 346 minutes of power away from the mains is still respectable, but the MSI in this group offers nearly three hours more.
Strong usability
The Acer fares better when it comes to usability, with a flat keyboard that stretches the entire width of the chassis. Most of the keys are well sized, although the directional keys are crushed into the bottom right of the keyboard, as they are on the Dell, and as a result are very awkward to use. In contrast, the touchpad is a good size despite such a compact chassis. but the dedicated scrollbar on the pad’s right-hand side isn’t nearly sensitive enough and using it is a jerky experience.
The Acer’s resilient chassis proves tough enough for regular travel use, although we did notice a little bit of flex around the palmrest. The glossy, bright red lid is a refreshing departure from the sober black designs of the Asus and MSI in this group test, but still can’t match the flair of the artistic design on the lid of the Dell.
The 10.1-inch screen is the same size and resolution as the Asus’ display, but a Super-TFT coating has been used for more vibrant images. This display isn’t as sharp as the Dell’s, however, and both the Dell and MSI displays produce richer, deeper colours, so photos look less saturated.
The Aspire One 532h-20r is a well-built netbook with decent usability and no major faults, but it is outshone in this group test in a number of areas.
Details
- PROCESSOR INTEL 1.66GHZ ATOM N450
- MEMORY 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM
- HARD DRIVE 250GB (540ORPM)
- OPTICAL DRIVE NO
- SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE 10.1-INCH SUPER-TFT
- DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1024 X 600 (W SVGA)
- GRAPHICS CARD INTEL GMA 3150
- DIMENSIONS 259 X 179 X 33MM
- WEIGHT 1.2KG
- WIRELESS LAN 802.11N
- ETHERNET 10/100
- USB PORTS 3
- FIREWIRE NO
- OPERATING SYSTEM WINDOWS 7 STARTER
- STANDARD WARRANTY 1 YR C&R P&L
- PRICE £277
